The Smiter is a Paladin class, a very powerful one at that. Extremely effective VS. Boss's. The Smiter is one of the only known class's that can successfully kill Uber Lilth, Uber Duriel and Uber Izaul as well as Uber Tristram's Uber Mephisto, Uber Diablo, and Uber Baal solo. The Smiter uses his shield to repeatedly bash opponents, stunning them, and inflicting melee damage. Smiter's are somewhat weak against hordes of minions, so this build is not a good one for crowd bashing. The only enemies in Diablo 2 that a Smiter cannot defeat are enemies with the "Immune to Physical" trait, since a Smiter's damage is all melee based damage.

Contents

Skills

There are definitely alternatives to this build... this is one combination of skills that is rather mainstream, it has worked for me and I am certain it will work for you as well. Keep in mind that you can only put 20 points into any skill but you can still go over that with your +skill items/charms. Many of these skills require a pre-requisite to access... Just follow the arrows on the skill tree.

Combat Skills

Smite: Some builds use only one point into Smite... not mine however... Max this skill.

Charge: A pre-requisite for the Holy Shield Skill, put one point into this skill.

Holy Bolt: A pre-requisite for the Holy Shield Skill, put one point into this skill.

Blessed Hammer: A pre-requisite for the Holy Shield Skill, put one point into this skill

Holy Shield: Max this skill, it is vital to the Smiter build, adding tons of damage and defense.

Offensive Auras

Might: A pre-requisite for Fanaticism, put one skill point into this skill.

Blessed Aim: A pre-requisite for Fanaticism, put one skill point into this skill.

Concentration: A pre-requisite for Fanaticism, put one skill point into this skill.

Fanaticism: This skill will be your main aura, Max this skill.

Defensive Auras

Resist Fire: Putting points into this skill will add to your characters passive maximum resistance for fire. For every 1 point you invest you and your party members and pets will gain +1 to maximum resist when the aura is active, additionally you and your party will also passively gain 0.5 to your maximum fire resistance when the aura is not active for each point invested. Resistances are capped at 95. I suggest putting roughly 10-15 points into this skill.

Resist Cold: Putting points into this skill will add to your characters passive maximum resistance for cold. For every 1 point you invest you and your party members and pets will gain +1 to maximum cold resist when the aura is active, additionally you and your party will also passively gain 0.5 to your maximum cold resistance when the aura is not active for each point invested. Resistances are capped at 95. I suggest putting roughly 10-15 points into this skill.

Resist Lightning: Putting points into this skill will add to your characters passive maximum resistance for lightning. For every 1 point you invest you and your party members and pets will gain +1 to maximum lightning resist when the aura is active, additionally you and your party will also passively gain 0.5 to your maximum lightning resistance when the aura is not active for each point invested. Resistances are capped at 95. I suggest putting roughly 10-15 points into this skill.

It is important to note that you will only gain the passive resistance bonus's from points invested and NOT the items/charms that give skill bonus's. This applies to all three Resist Auras: Fire, Cold and Lightning.

Salvation: I suggest putting 1 point into this skill as soon as you can, the very first level of this skill gives you +60% to All Resistances when the aura is active. An absolute must at times for survival.

Gear

There are always alternatives, but for the most part this is the gear that you should be using. Starting from the top. If you are unsure of what any of these items are, please check Arreat Summit for confirmation.

Inventory
If you are building this character for the purpose of Ubering I suggest loading up on good resistance charms. Dual mods charms are always good, try to shoot for +10% Resistance Small Charms that have 5% Faster Hit Recovery, or +5 to all resistances with + life mod Small Charms. Annihilus Small Charm is a must of course... If you are building a Player vs Player character, Throw a Paladin Hellfire Torch on, combined with Paladin Combat Skill Grand Charms and +Life Small Charms. If you are building a Uber Character you will not want a Torch, since you can only have one on a character at any given time.

Mods
Deadly Strike does not work with Smite.
Poison do not affect Smite.
Smite doesn't carry elemental damage from any source.
Open Wounds you need to have it on 1 item.
Prevent Monster Heal does not work on the Pandemonium Ubers.

Stat Points

Strength
Invest only enough into strength use your gear. Try to set it up so when you equip on piece of gear it will give you the Strength Bonus to equip item the next and so on. *STR

Dexterity
Invest Enough points into dexterity to achieve maximum block from Baal (when Holy Shield is active) which is capped at 75%, in Hell difficulty. This is usually about 95-110 Dex when Holy Shield is maxed. (It can be determined by holding your cursor over the defense number in your character information screen.) *DEX

Vitality
Dump as many points into Vita as possible....Base Hit points (Health) is crucial. *VITA

Energy
Not a single Stat point should be put into Energy as the skill "Smite" only requires 2 Mana points to use. It's a good idea to keep Mana/Rejuvenation potions handy in case you run into enemies with the "Mana Burn" trait. Rejuves are nice, but when your being damned by mana burn they aren't so handy because enemies often take all of your Mana as soon as you use them, (making you use another right away) while if you were to use a Super Mana potion, it would slowly recover your Mana so you can keep attacking with one single potion regardless of how many times you get hit. Just a little tip, to always carry Mana pots with your Juves' at all times.

Tools

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